Charles reflects on all the memorabilia which lines the walls at The Hole in the Wall
The Hole in the Wall
keeps sailoring on... He spent much of his working life in the Naval Dockyard in support of visiting warships. The bond was predestined! Sailors love a drink and for almost the past four decades the Hole in the Wall has consistently provided that all important watering hole on the Rock. A few steps up in Castle Street, Charles soldiers, oops, sailors on! By comparison, Her Majesty’s warships’ visits are infrequent these days, but Charles’ Hole in the Wall remains open. “I just can’t let go. This place has been my life and I still enjoy coming here and opening up practically every evening ready to serve any sailor who may fancy a drink and a chat.” 74
By the way Charles speaks it is clear that, come the day the Hole opens no more, Charles will not be Charles for many months or perhaps years of mourning. He is adamant about putting across that the Hole in the Wall has never been a gay bar. “That’s right. The Hole in the Wall is a gay owned sailors’ bar and nothing else. We’ve never had any gay goings on or anything of that nature here. If anything, many a liaison between sailor and wren has been born in this bar and always, a great time has been had by all.” The thought of inebriated sailors brings to mind the inevitable fight or two... “Again you would be surprised. I’ve always held a tight rein on things here and the police and Naval Patrol have always considered this bar trouble free.” Charles’ first experience of working behind the bar goes back to the days when he helped out at Timothy’s (later to become the Sugar Bowl) in Governor’s Parade, opposite the Eliott Hotel. That was way back in the very early ’70s. “Around about the mid-’70s I came to the Hole in the Wall to work for a lady who owned it then.” The naval presence at the Hole was promoted through Charles’ involvement in his work in the Naval Dockyard and contacts he made there and at HMS Rooke. (Charles was responsible for the unenviable task of guiding warships into dry dock: a job that required pinpoint precision). “Anyway, at some stage I fell out with that lady and to cut a long story short, in 1979 I returned and took over, and things started to take off in a great way. My late friend Johnny Pearce would help me out in the bar and we had a great rapport. We’d have the sailors in stitches having a good time laughing their heads off and look, here I am still, holding the fort!” Thankfully Charles doesn’t depend on the bar’s income to make a living. He did a stint as a production clerk during the ill-fated Appledore days, still in the dockyard, and now manages apartment maintenance work for a private firm. “I still somehow manage to pay my bills here. One month I’ll pay an electricity bill and the next I’ll pay the telephone and that’s how I go on. I do get the odd drinker that’ll pop in. Two couples poked their heads in the other night and asked if the same bloke ran the bar. When I told them that was me they said they expected me to look older and didn’t recognise me! The men were single in the good old days and had since married... we ended
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • MARCH 2010